“My opponent had no issues and no experience,” Moran said after his victory. “This was just about me.”

Rosenberg’s campaign message was “a choice for the 8th District.” He focused on Moran’s alleged anti-Semitic comments and other statements that the outspoken congressman has made over the years.

Despite the negative campaign, Moran is looking ahead to a unified Democratic Party for the fall election. “It’s time to put this behind us and work together,” he said.

Turnout in Alexandria was a low but in the range of what election officials predicted. “We thought there would be between 10 and 14,000," said Tom Parkins, the registrar of voters for the city. “We had 10,742, unofficially.”

Fourteen thousand votes were cast in the city in the February Democratic presidential primary. “That’s the closest comparison we have and that isn’t really a good one,” Parkins said. “Since there hasn’t been a Democratic primary in this congressional race for at least 14 years, it’s hard to say whether this particular turnout was high or low.”

TURNOUT IN primaries is generally not high. “Party activists and those who are specifically motivated by a candidate vote in primaries,” Parkins said. As expected then, voter turnout in Del Ray was high.

What does Rosenberg’s 41 percent vote total indicate? “While incumbents usually win, I have seen everything happen in primaries,” Parkins said.

Moran will face Republican Lisa Marie Cheney in the November general election.